TODAY'S WEATHER: Warmer with a high of 87 NEWS: Terrorist attack linked to Osama bin Laden
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
KANSAN
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
WWW.KANSAN.COM
WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 12,2001
ISSUE 14 VOLUME 112
American tragedy
TERRORISM ON THE HOMEFRONT
As dust settles and reality hits, Kansas asks why
Local experts and Kansas politicians agree that yesterday's events in New York and Washington, D.C., were acts of terrorism.
Kansan staff report
Two hijacked airliners crashed into the World Trade Center, bringing down the twin 110-story towers. The seat of government came under attack when a ietlerian slammed into the Pentagon.
A fourth jetliner, also hijacked, crashed in Pennsylvania.
"What's happened is an apparent act of terrorism," said Rep. Dennis Moore, D-Kan.
President Bush ordered a full-scale investigation to "hunt down the folks who committed this act."
Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan. and chairman of the Emerging Threats Committee, said he hadn't expected a suicide mission.
"I must say, I am not pleased with the intelligence on this issue," he said.
Roberts described the attack as another Pearl Harbor.
Deborah Gerner, professor of political science, warned against hasty conclusions.
"We have to avoid a rush to judgment and not assume it has anything to do with any group," she said. "We don't know who's responsible."
Authorities were still trying to evacuate those who work in the Twin Towers when the glass-and-steel skyscrapers collapsed in a thunderous roar within 90 minutes of the attacks, which took place 18 minutes apart around 9 a.m. EST.
About 50,000 people work at the Trade Center and tens of thousands visit each day.
Altogether, the four planes carried 266 people. There was no word on any survivors.
Within an hour after the New York attack, the Pentagon took a direct, devastating hit from a plane. The fiery crash collapsed one side of the five-sided structure.
"No one has been ruled out, but our initial feeling is that this is the work of bin Laden," said a high-ranking federal law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity. "He is top of our list at this point."
Speculation about the attack quickly focused on terrorist fugitive Osama bin Laden.
Philip Schrodt, professor of political science, said the evidence pointed to bin Laden.
"This is pretty darn close to the worst possible case scenario," he said. "Obviously, this is a well-organized, longtime-in-planning event."
The president put the military on its highest level of alert. Authorities in Washington immediately called out troops, including an infantry regiment, and the Navy sent aircraft carriers and guided missile destroyers to New York and Washington.
The White House, the Pentagon and the Capitol were evacuated along with other federal buildings in Washington and New York. The president was taken to Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, headquarters for the Strategic Air Command, the nation's nuclear strike force. Later, he returned to Washington and addressed the nation at 7:30 p.m. CST.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The U.S. and Canadian borders were sealed, security was tightened at naval installations and other strategic points, and all commercial air traffic was stopped until at least noon today.
Afghanistan's Taliban rulers condemned the attacks and rejected suggestions that bin Laden was behind them, saying he does not have the means to carry out such well-orchestrated attacks. Bin Laden has been given asylum in Afghanistan.
SEE EXPERTS PAGE 10A
A second plane crashes into the World Trade Center in New York. The United States was hit by a massive terrorist attack yesterday, with hijacked planes hitting the World Trade Center twice and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.
Abdel-Bari Atwan, editor of the Al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper, said he received a warning from Islamic fundamentalists close to bin Laden, but did not take the threat seriously.
STUDENTS FEAR THE WORST
At KU, a scramble to locate loved ones
By Brooke Hesler and J. R. Mendoza Kansan campus editor and staff writer
News of yesterday's terrorist attacks hit close to home for some students with families in Washington, D.C.
Max Bryant, Washington. D.C., senior, said his father, Col. Albert Bryant Jr. of the U.S. Army, was in the Pentagon when the Boeing jet crashed into the building.
Bryant said that when he learned of the news, he immediately called his
mother.
"She scared me at first because she was crying, but then she said he was OK," Bryant said. "That's the most important thing."
Bryant, who is also an ROTC cadet, said that in times like these, he hoped people took pride in the country's military.
Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., said her father was at his office in Washington D.C., at the time of the attack.
"When people see the ROTC guys, I want them to remember what they're willing to do for this country. We'd do anything for this country."
Jenny Moore, Overland Park senior and business manager of the University Daily Kansan, said her sister was almost a passenger on the United Airlines flight out of Boston that crashed into one of the World Trade Center towers in New York.
"He's OK," said Roberts, Alexandria, Va., senior. "It's really scary and horrifying that this could even happen."
Moore said her sister, Kristin Bechard, a 1998 KU graduate and Shawnee resident, was in Boston this weekend for a conference.
Moore said her sister had the choice of taking the United flight yesterday or taking an American Airlines flight on Monday. Moore said she took the earlier flight because she wanted to get home.
Anne-Wesley Roberts, daughter of
SEE FAMILY PAGE 6A
Tyrone Seymour, San Diego senior, fills four gas containers fearing increased gas prices. Cars backed up 1-1/2 blocks Tuesday at Kwik Shop, 19th and Mass. The Kansas Attorney General Carla Stovall said price hikes should be reported.
THAD ALLENDER/KANSAN
Kansas City International, Lawrence feel aftershocks
By Courtney Craigmile and Paul Smith Kansan staff writers
The nation was struck with chaos after the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., yesterday morning, and Kansas was no exception.
Buildings were closed and security was stepped up at federal and state buildings, but area police urged businesses to continue as usual.
Mike Young, a police officer in Kansas City, Mo., said police had closed the block of Kansas City containing the Jackson County courthouse, the federal building.
City Hall and Kansas City police headquarters. He said the federal building had been closed and all nonessential workers at City Hall were sent home. Kansas City has not received any threats.
"Anything we're doing right now is in response to what's happening on the East Coast." Young said.
Kansas City International Airport shut down yesterday after air traffic nationwide was grounded by the Federal Aviation Authority. Some 18 flights made unscheduled landings at KCI, said Joe McBride, a representative at the airport.
SEE LOCAL PAGE 3A
That was what Todd Ross, a U.S. Navy commander, had to say about yesterday's attack on the Pentagon.
"I felt it and I heard it."
Student's uncle feels plane hit the Pentagon
By Leita Schultes
Kansan managing editor
Ross has an office at the Pentagon and was at work when a possible terrorist crashed a plane into the Pentagon. He also has a niece at the University of Kansas — Emily Ross, a Columbia, S.C., junior.
Todd Ross said he had been watching CNN in his office when a World Trade Center tower in New York City was hit by a plane.
Then he saw it get hit again.
"When the second airplane flew into the World Trade Center tower, I knew that the first one was not an accident, and I became quite concerned that I was standing on the fifth floor of the Pentagon at the time," he said.
Ross said about 50 minutes elapsed between when he saw the attack on the World Trade Center and when a third plane crashed into the Pentagon.
His first thought was that the United States was under attack.
"And I thought it was being done by a fairly orchestrated attempt," he said. "If those two things were targets, there were probably others as well."
SEE ROSS PAGE 3A
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